Getting into shape

This is a very vague question, but what would be recommended for generally getting into shape?
All threads here are dedicated to one type of fitness or another, but I'd like to be able to improve myself all around, i.e. muscle mass/tone, endurance, reducing body fat, etc. For some reason, I get the impression that doing one sort of training detracts from the other from reading everyone's post (or it could be because I'm up extremely late). :new_gmorn

Also, when lifting weights and jogging, is the most important factor still pushing on when you've reached your limit, or just the frequency of when you do them?

What do your workouts consist of?

Last edited by Kistrael; 12/28/2004 3:11am at .

DIDN'T YOU KNOW?! The Chinese know everything! And they knew it 4,000 years before YOU did!

"Yes. Yes I am. I'm clearly illiterate and dictating this post to a squadron of several dozen trained jumping beans I've coearced into living on my keyboard, each named after a letter or character, which bounce up and down as I call their names." -JohnnyCache

Right now, I'm looking at doing weights once or twice a week, max. I just don't have the time. And BJJ twice a week. I've been told that doing weights once a week will still give me some gains, so I'll give it a try.

Go swimming a few times a week to improve overall fitness. I've never seen a swimmer that wasn't in shape.

Muscle tone depends on your body fat % more than anything. No specific excercises for it. As for reducing your body fat %, it's all about burning more calories than you take in, but make sure you get enough protein so it's not your muscles that are being burned.

Training A doesn't detract from B unless you do one too much, or time it badly. Generally, if you train everything on seperate days, you should be fine.

***I am in no way a professional or anything, but this is my general understanding.***

I've always understood weight loss (calorie burn>calorie intake), so no problem there.
I've lost weight since a few years ago, which I'm happy about, because I worked to get it off. I'm 5'3" (yes, I'm short) and I weigh approximately 133 lbs. Basically, I'm just looking to improve all around; more endurance, muscle mass, tone, etc.

About training in different fields, I've noticed is that runners tend to disagree with weight lifters, and weight lifters disagree with runners.

DIDN'T YOU KNOW?! The Chinese know everything! And they knew it 4,000 years before YOU did!

"Yes. Yes I am. I'm clearly illiterate and dictating this post to a squadron of several dozen trained jumping beans I've coearced into living on my keyboard, each named after a letter or character, which bounce up and down as I call their names." -JohnnyCache

DIDN'T YOU KNOW?! The Chinese know everything! And they knew it 4,000 years before YOU did!

"Yes. Yes I am. I'm clearly illiterate and dictating this post to a squadron of several dozen trained jumping beans I've coearced into living on my keyboard, each named after a letter or character, which bounce up and down as I call their names." -JohnnyCache

I'm at the dojang twice a week, plus practice at home. Got a heavy bag in the basement and a (small) weight set, which isn't much more than a weight bench with a device for leg lifts. I lift weights maybe once or twice a week, but I need to get into a regular schedule.

But yes, basically overall improvement. Any general list of exercises suits me fine, since there's always room for me to improve. Any advice given, I'll take. When I said endurance, I should have specified aerobic.

Sorry, if I'm not specific enough, you guys know more about what I'm talking about than I do.

DIDN'T YOU KNOW?! The Chinese know everything! And they knew it 4,000 years before YOU did!

"Yes. Yes I am. I'm clearly illiterate and dictating this post to a squadron of several dozen trained jumping beans I've coearced into living on my keyboard, each named after a letter or character, which bounce up and down as I call their names." -JohnnyCache

If you're seeking to gain alot of size then cardio wouldn't be your focus unless you intended to eat a MASSIVE amount of calories to compensate.

A solid 3-4 day a week weight lifting progtam is a good start. You can workout for just about an hour each session and still get great results. If you jump into fitness full blast chances are you're going to quit. Start off slow with 3x a week and throw in some light running on your days off. After about 2 months your body will start to feel different and you can increase your workout accordingly.

Tae Bo:
I would if I could, but the females around here don't really appeal to me. There's always something critically wrong with them.

PeedeeShaolin: Thanks, that sounds like a good start.

There's always room for improvement.

I've read that when lifting weights, there are two ways to do it: lifting lighter weights many times, or lifting heavier weights less times. Which produces which results? I'm assuming the more you work the muscle when tired, the better the gain?

Last edited by Kistrael; 12/28/2004 10:12pm at .

DIDN'T YOU KNOW?! The Chinese know everything! And they knew it 4,000 years before YOU did!

"Yes. Yes I am. I'm clearly illiterate and dictating this post to a squadron of several dozen trained jumping beans I've coearced into living on my keyboard, each named after a letter or character, which bounce up and down as I call their names." -JohnnyCache